SECOND SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION BILL, 1967 HEARINGS BEFORE SUBCOMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NINETIETH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION 77-074 Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1967 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS GEORGE H. MAHON, Texas, Chairman MICHAEL J. KIRWAN, Ohio GEORGE E. SHIPLEY, Illinois ROBERT N. GIAIMO, Connecticut DAVID PRYOR, Arkansas FRANK T. BOW, Ohio KENNETH SPRANKLE, Clerk and Staff Director PAUL M. WILSON, Assistant Clerk and Staff Director (II) SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR AND HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE, AND RELATED AGENCIES DANIEL J. FLOOD, Pennsylvania, Chairman WILLIAM H. NATCHER, Kentucky MELVIN R. LAIRD, Wisconsin NEAL SMITH, Iowa W. R. HULL, Jr., Missouri ROBERT H. MICHEL, Illinois JOHN C. DROKE, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT JAMES B. CARDWELL, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY, BUDGET SALARIES AND EXPENSES Mr. FLOOD. We have the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Goddard. He is here on a supplemental for "Salaries and expenses." This request is contained in House Document 83. Do you have a statement, Doctor? GENERAL STATEMENT Dr. GODDARD. Yes, Mr. Chairman, a brief statement. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I welcome the opportunity to appear before you today to present the proposed fiscal year 1967 supplemental request of $1,685,000 in "Salaries and expenses" appropriation. This money is needed to finance pay increases in salaries and benefits and other unbudgeted costs for our employees. Mr. FLOOD. Unbudgeted costs? Dr. GODDARD. Yes, sir. As a result of legislation and Civil Service directives with respect to moving and the grade at which certain categories of personnel are paid, these costs could not be anticipated and thus were unbudgeted. Before I discuss each individual item in this request, I should like to stress the point that before we requested a supplemental appropria tion, I asked my staff to make a close review of all programs being carried out this year, along with the obligation and expenditure rates for each, to determine if all or part of these increased costs could be absorbed within present resource levels. After careful review, our judgment was that we could not absorb the increased cost and still meet our commitments in the field or at headquarters. Mr. FLOOD. Could you absorb any part of it? Dr. GODDARD. We have absorbed part of the increased costs in certain of these categories. We are requesting $1,306,000 for increased payroll costs due to the enactment of the Federal Salary and Fringe Benefits Act of 1966. That act provided a basic pay increase of 2.9 percent for all general schedule (GS) employees. It also raised the maximum rate of overtime pay, established a premium compensation rate of 25 percent over the basic compensation for all Sunday work, and increased the Government's contribution for employee health plans, and to the civil service retirement fund. Mr. FLOOD. Sunday work? Dr. GODDARD. Yes, sir. We are doing this now. For example, we are working 24 hours a day in the Dallas district, weekends included, to keep up with the problems of pesticide residues on imported melons. We have been carrying out overtime programs in our drug abuse control, a program which involves work on Sunday as well as every other weekday. This type of overtime rate is payed in accordance with title IV, section 404, of Public Law 89-504. Based on current spending plans we foresee a financial deficit in the amount requested in the fourth quarter of this fiscal year. Our apportionment for the fourth quarter from the Bureau of the Budget reflects this deficit. We are also requesting $194,000 for increased expenses due to the passage of the Administrative Expenses Act, which permitted the Government to defray a higher cost when employees are required to relocate. Our experience thus far indicates that there will be over 200 moves covered by this act, and that each will cost approximately $867 over and above the average cost of a move before the act took effect. Our spending plan indicates a deficit in the amount requested. Finally, $185,000 is requested to fund increased costs due to the implementation of Executive Order 11073 by the Civil Service Commission. This order establishes an increased minimum salary rate and rate ranges for certain classes of professional and scientific occupations. Six hundred and seventy-nine FDA employees will be affected by the provisions of the Order, and $185,000 will be needed to fund their increased salaries. This group of 679 employees is composed primarily of chemists, with a small number of engineers and mathematicians making up the balance. The Executive order encompasses employees both at headquarters and at our field installations. Again, our spending plan indicates a deficit in the amount requested. Mr. Chairman, we thank you for your continued interest in our programs and trust that the committee will give its favorable consideration to this request. I will be pleased to answer any questions that you may have relating to this supplemental. I am accompanied by John C. Droke, Deputy Director of our Division of Financial Management. Mr. FLOOD. Is there any program increase involved in the $1,685,000 supplemental? Dr. GODDARD. No, sir. COST OF MOVING EMPLOYEES Mr. FLOOD. $194,000 of the request is due to the increased expense of moving employees under the new Administrative Procedures Act. Dr. GODDARD. Yes, sir. Mr. FLOOD. This is based on 224 employee moves? Dr. GODDARD. Yes, sir. Mr. FLOOD. Now this is a problem we are pretty well acquainted with, at least I am, in the Defense area. We had to do something about this. It is a tremendous thing in the Defense Department. What accounts for your moves? Why do these people have to move? Dr. GODDARD. We try to limit the moves in order that the personnel may gain maximum benefit from the experience in a given geographic area. Mr. FLOOD. This is getting to be a terribly expensive thing in some agencies. Dr. GODDARD. On the other hand, balancing this and looking at it in another sense, it is desirable to move employees periodically from one district to another. Mr. FLOOD. I agree with that. Dr. GODDARD. So their experience will be broadened. We have very little drug work in our Dallas district and a great deal in New York and Philadelphia districts. So we have to keep some semblance of balance. But one of the primary factors affecting move rates at the present time is the policy of publishing vacancies that exist throughout our organization and permitting any employee who feels he is qualified to fill that vacancy to bid for that particular job. And so many of these are related to an employee perceiving an opportunity for advancement, even though it may be in a different geographic area. Mr. FLOOD. But you do recognize the need to keep it under control? Dr. GODDARD. Yes, the 224 moves we have indicated are really a cutback over the number we had contemplated originally, and it is done in order to conserve funds. There have not been enough moves in the past, in my opinion. Too many of our employees have stayed to long in some of the districts. We feel we are not getting the maximum benefit out of our employees by continuing the policy which would allow a man to stay in a given geographic area for 10 years. So some of the moves we want to make, frankly we will not be able to this year, but the 224 represents our estimate of those that are critical. PAYROLL COST UNDER EXECUTIVE ORDER 11073 Mr. FLOOD. You estimate increased payroll cost of $185,000 under the Executive Order 11073. What does that order require? What is the purpose of the order? Dr. GODDARD. The purpose of the order is to provide higher salaries for people in certain scarce categories as a means of retaining their services as well as obtaining personnel when they otherwise might be |